Bai Wenwei, the leader of the Yuewang Society, was not a person who didn't know the severity of things. The reason he ran to ask Chen Ke for weapons, equipment, and spoils of war was also out of helplessness. In the battle to attack Anqing, the People's Party troops took away guns and ammunition immediately wherever they went, leaving only damaged broken guns. Not only that, the People's Party struck extremely heavily in this battle, and the Anhui New Army suffered heavy casualties. Originally, the Yuewang Society had a considerable force in the New Army; they always thought they could use the pressure of the People's Party in the battle of attacking Anqing to win over the Anhui New Army and completely control the Anhui New Army after the war. But looking all the way, the Anhui New Army actually suffered nearly half casualties. The original wishful thinking went awry immediately. Some Yuewang Society comrades in the city's New Army were killed or wounded in the battle, which made the people of the Yuewang Society even more indignant; someone had already shouted words about absolutely not letting the matter rest with the People's Party.

As a last resort, Bai Wenwei had to act as this "asking price" character. He was an acquaintance of Yan Fu, and his qualifications were sufficient; Chen Ke would give him some face no matter what. If other comrades of the Yuewang Society came to do this, they would probably fall out with the People's Party immediately.

However, the People's Party acted extremely weirdly. After breaking the New Army camp and completely occupying Anqing, the People's Party began preparing to evacuate on the same day. Its speed was shocking. Bai Wenwei was leading people to receive the captives of the Anhui New Army when he learned the news that the People's Party began to retreat. The lightly wounded of the People's Party and part of the spoils were all sent onto the ships at the Anqing dock.

"May I ask where Mr. Chen Ke is?" Bai Wenwei had grabbed people wearing People's Party military uniforms to ask for the unknown-th time. The answers received were all three words: "I don't know." The People's Party had set up roadblocks; except for the west of the city, the people of the Yuewang Society couldn't enter other areas at all.

"Right! The Provincial Treasury!" When Bai Wenwei remembered this important target, he was already helpless. But he also discovered some strange things. He saw the soldiers of the People's Party lining up neatly, searching the streets for shell casings. After searching many blocks, the roadblocks were removed. Heaven knew what the People's Party wanted useless shell casings for.

"Shell casings, metal items, collect as many as possible. Transport them away quickly. By the way, dismantle that Catholic church for me as a key point. Don't be afraid of people saying we rob; the property of foreign religions is all illegal. Whoever dares to block can be treated as a counter-revolutionary and shot on the spot." Chen Ke hurriedly assigned tasks.

Hearing about dismantling the church, Chai Qingguo immediately volunteered cheerfully: "I'll go, I'll go, I'll take people to go."

"Brigade Commander Chai, remember for me, we want things, not letting you kill people. Don't kill if possible." Chen Ke exhorted.

"Don't worry, seeing foreign devils crying and wiping tears makes me much happier than killing them." Chai Qingguo couldn't help laughing loudly. "But if the foreign devils don't know what's good for them, Chairman Chen, I won't be polite."

"Okay, you see to it yourself." Chen Ke said.

When Chai Qingguo went out happily, Chen Ke turned his head and issued orders to Zhang Yu and Pu Guanshui who had just returned: "Comrade Zhang Yu, Comrade Pu Guanshui, the wounded must be transported away. The main force takes the land route back to the base area; it is very inconvenient to bring the wounded. Be fast! Must be fast! After we transport the wounded and materials out of this place of trouble, Anqing, we can plan calmly. But if the fleet doesn't leave now, it won't be able to leave later. The fleet matters are handed over to you."

"Yes!" Zhang Yu and Pu Guanshui answered with red eyes.

"Do it immediately!" Chen Ke ordered. His eyes looked still clear. But no one would blame Chen Ke; everyone knew Chen Ke actually slept much less than others.

As soon as Zhang Yu and Pu Guanshui went out, Chen Ke immediately turned to Yan Fu and said: "Mr. Yan Fu, let's go to the Anqing Inner Arsenal to see. Whatever can be transported away immediately, transport immediately. In addition, for the workers and technicians of the Arsenal, we have to find a way to get them away."

Seeing Chen Ke so excited, Yan Fu couldn't help smiling. The smoothness of the Battle of Anqing was also far beyond Yan Fu's imagination. He suddenly asked: "Chairman Chen, how do you plan to deal with Anqing?"

"Mr. Yan Fu, let the Yuewang Society and Guangfuhui figure it out themselves. Anyway, the Guangfuhui got Chizhou; they don't suffer a loss."

"Chairman Chen, aren't you letting them jump into a fire pit?" Yan Fu was not a revolutionary party member originally, and had no good feelings for the Yuewang Society and Guangfuhui who were revolutionary parties. So his tone was quite peaceful.

Chen Ke laughed: "They are willing themselves; I didn't force them to do this. If they want to run, they can run now."

Yan Fu actually admired Chen Ke's strategic view very much. Before fighting Anqing, he simply didn't expect such a risky thousand-li raid could actually be realized. So his mood was also excellent now. "Leave such matters to the Court to worry about. It is important for us to hurry back to the base area. But Wen Qing, have you done mechanics? You look quite knowledgeable."

"I grew up in a machinery factory since childhood. Later I also learned a little about mechanical manufacturing or something." Chen Ke couldn't help but slip of the tongue.

Yan Fu was not the kind of person who liked gossip. Hearing this, he was very happy instead. "That's just right; let's discuss carefully what to transport back."

It was unrealistic to move Anqing completely. The People's Party didn't have much time, so the room for choice was even smaller. Complete sets of equipment could only be picked if convenient to transport. Fortunately, Anqing didn't lack labor. While the People's Party transported themselves, they also conscripted civilian laborers. By the evening of February 2, the fleet was fully loaded with wounded and materials, sailing downstream with the current.

And on the night of February 2, the People's Party carried out a big arrest in Anqing City. The target of the arrest was all personnel of the Anqing Inner Arsenal. That night dogs barked, men wailed, and women cried. Soldiers of the People's Party broke into doors and forced the technical personnel of the Anqing Inner Arsenal to sign a "Labor Contract" with guns. These people must work for the People's Party for one year. Willing or not, after forcibly pressing their handprints, the families of these people received one year's wages in advance. After capturing the Anqing Provincial Treasury, the People's Party didn't lack money at all.

Another target for grabbing people was the Anqing Girls' School run by Qiu Jin. The literary atmosphere in Anqing was very strong. Not only city people attended the Girls' School, but many girls from enlightened scholar families outside the city also studied here. The Girls' School had a good reputation, plus En Ming promoted it vigorously to implement New Policies. There were more than a hundred female students boarding in the school dormitory. The base area needed teachers; to popularize compulsory education, female dolls also had to go to school, so the number of female teachers was extremely scarce. Chen Ke specially formulated an operational plan for this.

The principal of the Girls' School was Qiu Jin. With Qiu Jin's temperament, robbing people in front of her would cause human lives to be lost. For this, Chen Ke deliberately played a small trick. He invited Qiu Jin to the headquarters and hypocritically arranged guards to guard the Girls' Middle School. As soon as Qiu Jin left, the guarding troops immediately went in to grab people. To prevent the female students from screaming, the soldiers gagged all the female students, tied their hands, and put them in sacks. Chai Qingguo's horse team was waiting outside the door; these female students were thrown onto the horses' backs. Along with the workers and technicians taken away from the Anqing Inner Machinery Institute, the main force withdrew from Anqing City.

Chen Ke was the last to leave. He looked back at this important city on the Yangtze River and suddenly couldn't help laughing out loud. The guard asked curiously: "Why does the Chairman laugh?"

"Nothing, just laughing," Chen Ke perfunctorily said. Actually, the reason for his laughter was very simple: Chen Ke never expected that he would actually engage in the business of stealing men and dominating women [kidnapping].

The people of the Yuewang Society dared not play night battles with the People's Party. The tough combat effectiveness shown by the People's Party in the siege battle last night made them quite apprehensive. Although they were very indignant at the People's Party's act of plaguing Anqing, indignation was indignation; when they prepared to go find the People's Party to reason at dawn, they found the People's Party had gone cleanly. Searching Anqing City with extreme doubt, the people of the Yuewang Society were truly convinced that Anqing City had fallen into their hands.

If one must say, Chen Ke was already very kind. At least one-quarter of the treasury silver was left for the Yuewang Society in the Provincial Treasury. Half of the cannons were also left. Even two machine guns were left. One-quarter of the munitions in the Gunpowder Depot were also left. Bai Wenwei originally thought the People's Party would move everything away; seeing the People's Party actually left so many things, he really couldn't believe it.

He sent people to investigate the "atrocities" of the People's Party last night again. The "victims" were less than two hundred people, and the families of the kidnapped technical personnel also admitted that the People's Party paid wages first. The families of these "victims" thought the People's Party and the Yuewang Society were in the same group; they begged the people of the Yuewang Society to let their family members go home first. They would definitely work for the Yuewang Society, but it shouldn't reach the point of arresting people, right?

The investigation result made the people of the Yuewang Society feel very incredible. And the great victory of completely seizing Anqing City immediately occupied the main attention of the Yuewang Society. Once power is in hand, orders are issued. The main cadres of the Yuewang Society immediately held a meeting to discuss the grand plan of how to establish a revolutionary regime, further overthrow the Manchu Qing, and establish a New China. As for the loss of less than two hundred people, in the view of these people, it was simply a trivial matter.

The only person who was furious was Qiu Jin. When Chen Ke invited her to dinner, he drugged the wine. Qiu Jin slept until the afternoon of the next day before waking up. When she found that all the students of her Girls' School were missing, she thought it was some other force doing bad things. It wasn't until February 4 that she confirmed that the person who did this bad thing was actually Chen Ke, whom she favored very much. This feeling of being betrayed made this strong and emotional female revolutionary burst into tears and sob uncontrollably.

The news that Anqing and Chizhou were seized by the revolutionary parties Yuewang Society and Guangfuhui spread like wildfire. By February 5, 1907, Wuhan and Nanjing both received the news. On February 6, Beijing and Shanghai received the news. On February 8, this news had spread to various cities along the Yangtze River. By February 10, the news reached Japan. The Tongmenghui in Japan immediately cheered thunderously. The Yuewang Society had joined the Tongmenghui; these comrades had occupied such a big city as Anqing, it seemed the success of the revolution was just around the corner. The Tongmenghui immediately sent telegrams and messages everywhere, and organized teams to return to China, preparing to participate in this revolution centered on Anqing.

For a time, various strange news circulated everywhere in the Yangtze River basin. Various irresponsible rumors became the main topic of conversation after tea and dinner. The cities occupied by the revolutionary army expanded from Anqing and Chizhou to Wuhan and Nanjing. Someone swore solemnly that they saw the revolutionary army waving white flags, wearing white helmets and white armor, holding wolf-tooth clubs, wearing mourning for Emperor Chongzhen, killing towards Shanghai, towards Hangzhou, towards Zhenjiang, towards Shaoxing. In short, the rivers and mountains of the Great Qing were about to perish.

But these were just rumors. Except for cities closing their gates and guarding strictly everywhere, nothing changed. The revolutionaries in Anqing and Chizhou fell into the dilemma of forming a new government. No matter how they crowned their comrades with various very revolutionary and very mighty titles, or talked big about various plans formulated before the success of the revolution, they had to face the predicament of insufficient manpower and ineffective organization.

And facing the "successful rebellion" of the Anqing revolutionary party, the Manchu Qing forces first thought of stabilizing their own territory and maintaining their own order. Searching and arresting local revolutionary parties. They had absolutely no plan to retake Anqing.

So, the situation of hundreds responding to a single call and beacon fires everywhere expected by the revolutionaries did not happen. Whether the Revolutionary Party or the Manchu Qing, both sides stared at each other blankly like this. With the arrival of the New Year, everyone's attention was focused on the Spring Festival. The imagined fierce revolutionary war did not break out. The situation actually calmed down like this.

February 12, 1907, was New Year's Eve. It was on this day that the main force of the People's Party finally arrived at Wabuhu. They boarded the fleet that came to meet them. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the troops returned to the base area smoothly. This Battle of Anqing ended.